Reclaiming Edge, Reclaiming Life

Claiming Straight Edge is a important and non-trivial thing. And yet sometimes life throws you a curveball and your Edge can be broken. I think that consciously going against Edge with the forethought to re-claim is crap, but if you mess up and realize your mistakes then you should re-claim Edge to further your own strength and confidence in your self.

I regularly post a question at the top of this blog; the current question right now is "Have you ever lost friends because you claimed Edge?" and I just received an inspiring story by GIPrice who fell into a bad situation and picked himself back up, reclaimed Edge and "started being a real straight edger".

Something like this kind of happened to me. Well I was always drug and alcohol free but it wasnt until the summer break before my senior year in high school that I claimed to sXe. Well my best friend introduced me to a bunch of new people and they seemed to be pretty fun and cool people. But they all turned out to be fucking druggies and my best friend was falling for one of them and got into drugs and drinking too. Then I started to really like this one bitch that said she really didn't even smoke pot but oh was that a lie. So being the pretty nice guy I am I didn't immediately tell them to fuck off. I tried talking to them and reasoning with them but no all they did was lie lie lie and smoke smoke smoke so finally it got to the point to where I was depressed and starting drinking and I would wake up and try to get wasted. Thankfully one day I woke up and realized what I was doing and had a life change. I kicked everyone that isn't sXe out of my life and stopped drinking. And started being a real straight edger. So I started dealing with my depression like a man and I slowly got over it. So now I don't even talk to people that do drugs and my life has been drama free and fucking great. I love actually being real straight edge because I know the people I called "friends" could never be. And even though I feel pain and depression and I don't like it, I still find good in it because I know it is real and I am real and alive and able to cope.

Claiming Edge isn't something done lightly, it's not simply about being drug free, it's about committing to yourself to live this way forever. But if you make a mistake, and you realize that mistake and accept your mistakes then you might be able to claim edge again with stronger conviction and live a more fulfilled life.

VOID

I just found this somewhat interesting blog post by a tattoo artist of a cover-up tattoo on top of a Straight Edge tattoo. The part that I find interesting is that someone would make something so important in their life like claiming edge and then somehow fall to a point that they need to make fun of it. Certainly I have no idea what made this person change their lifestyle but I wonder what would make them think that it's now somehow humorous.

For me, I could never break edge, it is too important to me. Even when it's not something that I think about everyday it is something that is ingrained in my life. Like all things that take serious commitment (aside from relationships since those clearly require the commitment of two individuals) such as being vegan or a religious lifestyle choice such as celibacy it is something that at one point in your life made such an impact that you "claimed" it, that you made it known to others and in this case "marked" you own body to let others know. This claim was clearly something of value, something to be shared with others.

Everyone deserves the right to break edge, but I truly wonder if it's done for the right reasons.

Breaking Edge

What does breaking edge really mean? Can you drink once or smoke pot once or have a one night stand and still be straight edge? What if you slip up, something sets you off, you make a bad judgment, fall to peer pressure, something really bad happens to you or someone close to you?

A bit ago I was talking with some friends, some SxE and some not, and we discussed this point. I originally felt that you couldn't claim edge again if you broke edge. But I think now that breaking edge is a more deliberate and conscious decision. Failing at staying Straight Edge shouldn't be looked at as a strict declaration of un-claiming edge. If you did something un-edge with the thought that you can re-claim afterwards then you broke edge. Life throws A LOT of crap at us, and being perfect is impossible, so expecting yourself to never fall prey to something that drives you over the edge (no pun intended) would be way to pious of anyone.

So I think as long as understand why you failed to stay edge for that moment in time and make a re-commitment to being Straight Edge then you can continue to claim and still be TRUExTILLxDEATH.

All Ages and Breaking Edge, so much in one post, but it's all related I promise

So I finally got the "All Ages" book in mail today from the UK. I read the Foreword and the Intro so far. I'll post a reveiw of the whole thing soon. Just wanted to post a few things to start with though. Ray Cappo wrote the foreward, and as I read it I thought about the article by Ray that I found on Grrrls With X's on Their Hands. I don't know when he wrote it, or if it's truly his writing, the original source link was a now defunct Anglefire page. But even if it's not really his words, it still makes me think about what it means to break edge and what others should do and say about people that break edge. First reactions are always to say WTF! especially when you consider that someone is Ray, who has been such a huge influence on the scene and SxE kids across the planet. Now I never met Ray and don't judge him for his choices at all. It just makes you wonder what being SxE meant to him (or anyone for that matter) that it can be thrown aside with a simple glass of wine. I think people become angry hearing about Ray and others they know breaking edge because it affects them in a certain way, by this I mean that your community has lost someone and this pride and conviction you hold deeply feels like it was stepped on. When people outside SxE step on your convictions, you just brush it off and say whatever. But when someone inside SxE steps on them, you feel that and can't let it go. As a community we should definitely be more concerned with finding out the why though first and then decide how we feel afterwards.

That all then leads to the concept of becoming Straight Edge again. Is that possible? Can you drink a glass of wine or smoke a cigarette once and then decide that you want to be SxE again. I tend to think no, I mean you can decide to no longer drink or smoke, but you can't take on the label again. I feel this way cause it's like you dirtied what it meant and then crawl back. Now this leads to the ill feelings that arise when someone does break edge, but I still feel this way.

So back to the book, I'll review it soon, but I wanted metion that I came across another great blog recently by Eric Grubbs who is writing a post-hardcore book. And he said the book has been "quite handy" for research on his book, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest and certainly interested in reading Eric's book when he's finished.